The updated number came during a briefing on Monday evening at the state's emergency management center in Tallahassee.

Hurricane and Tropical Storm Irma has left 62 percent of customers without power.Of the 6.5 million reported outages, nearly a third are in South Florida. Nineteen of Florida's 67 counties report more than 100,000 outages.

The biggest outages are in Miami-Dade County (801,648) followed by Broward (629,134) and Palm Beach (505,520). Hendry County in the southwest part of the state is the only county listing 100 percent outages.

6 p.m.

South Carolina reports its first storm-related death. In Abbeville, a 57-year-old man was killed when he cleared a fallen tree limb in his yard and another fell on him. The victim was cutting fallen tree limbs with a chainsaw outside of his home when he was struck.

5:50 p.m.

Officials are reporting a second death in Georgia related to Tropical Storm Irma.

Georgia Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Catherine Howden said the death was confirmed Monday in Sandy Springs, north of Atlanta.

The man, in his 50s, was killed when a tree fell on his house, Sandy Springs police Sgt. Sam Worsham said.

The storm is also being blamed for the death of a 62-year-old man in rural southwest Georgia. Worth County sheriff's spokeswoman Kannetha Clem said the man use a ladder to climb onto a shed Monday morning as sustained winds in the county exceeded 40 mph.

Clem says the man's wife called 911 saying he suffered a heart attack, and first responders found his body lodged between two beams on the shed's roof with debris on top of him.

The dead man's name was not immediately released.

4:50 p.m.

Tropical Storm Irma has 50 mph maximum sustained winds, and the storm's center is expected to continue to move over southwestern Georgia on Monday and move into Alabama on Tuesday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The storm should weaken to a depression in 24 hours or sooner, a hurricane center forecaster said.

Despite the weakening, there is danger of life-threatening flooding from storm surge — an abnormal rise in sea level related to the hurricane — along portions of the coasts of western Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, where storm surge warnings remain in effect, according to the hurricane center.

4:10 p.m.

Things were looking so dire that an estimated 10,000 people who rode out the storm in the Keys may require evacuation, the U.S. Department of Defense said. The island chain is home to about 79,000 people.

The Keys are closed to the public, including residents, and several areas remain without water, power and communications Monday morning, officials said.

3:40 p.m.

As damage assessment begins, officials are saying it may be "weeks" before people some people in the Florida Keys can return home.

"The Keys are going to take a while," White House adviser Tom Bossert said in a briefing, adding that some drawbridges connecting roads there may have been bent when Irma made landfall with fierce winds Sunday morning.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott says there is “devastation” in the Keys and he hopes everyone who stayed behind survived Irma. He said almost every mobile home park in the Keys had overturned homes.

“My heart goes out to the people in the Keys," Florida Gov. Rick Scott in an afternoon briefing. “I just hope everybody survived.”

Scott also flew over the west coast of Florida on Monday and said the damage was not as bad as he thought it would be.

3:30 p.m.

Georgia officials say at least one person has been killed by Tropical Storm Irma.

Georgia Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Catherine Howden said Monday that one storm-related death has been confirmed in Worth County, about 170 miles south of Atlanta. She had no further details.

The county is located in southwest Georgia, where Irma’s center was churning northwestward toward Alabama on Monday afternoon. With tropical storm winds extending more than 400 miles from its center, Irma has caused damage across the state from trees falling on inland homes to flooding in neighborhoods on the Georgia coast.

The storm has also been blamed for at least one death in Florida. At least 36 people died in the storm’s wake across the Caribbean.

3 p.m.

Communities along the Georgia coast are seeing extensive flooding from Tropical Storm Irma.

Irma’s storm surge pushed water ashore at the high tide Monday afternoon, and heavy rainfall made the flooding even worse. On Tybee Island east of Savannah, Hollard Zellers saw waist-deep water in the street as he went to fetch a kayak.About 3,000 people live on Tybee Island, which is Georgia’s largest public beach.

City manager Shawn Gillen said the waters seemed to be receding quickly, but most of the island appeared to have some level of flooding and water was in many homes.

Storm surge also sent floodwaters into downtown St. Marys just north of the Georgia-Florida line. St. Marys police Lt. Shannon Brock said piers and boat docks were heavily damaged and many boats sunk.

2:30 p.m.

State and federal environmental regulators have issued a blanket waiver for Florida electricity companies to violate clean air and water standards for the next two weeks.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced the decision in a letter issued Monday as Hurricane Irma blew through the state. The agency said the so-called No Action Assurance granted through Sept. 26 will provide Florida utility generators needed flexibility to maintain and restore electricity supplies.

The assurance letter will allow utilities to operate outside restrictions mandated by their permits, including potentially using dirtier fuels, running for longer hours or electively bypassing pollution-control equipment.

2 p.m.

Irma is expected to continue moving into southwestern Georgia on Monday and move into eastern Alabama Tuesday morning, the National Hurricane Center said. Maximum sustained winds have decreased to 60 mph with high gusts, and the storm remains a threat well beyond its center, with tropical storm-force winds stretching out up 415 miles from its center.

In northeastern Florida, St. Johns County Fire Rescue posted photos on its Facebook page of homes that were heavily damaged by floodwaters and winds, including one that collapsed into the ocean. St. Johns County is just south of Jacksonville.

Tropical Storm Irma is moving north into Georgia and South Carolina.

1 p.m.

The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood emergency until 6:15 p.m. for the St. Johns River Basin in northeastern Florida near Jacksonville. It is described as a "particularly dangerous situation."

Residents are being urged to go to the highest point in their house if it's a single-story home, or the second floor if it's multiple stories. Jacksonville and surrounding areas will experience flooding, the NWS says.

12:30 p.m.

Nearly 7.2 million homes and businesses are without power in multiple states as Tropical Storm Irma moves through the Southeast.

The vast majority were in Florida. The state’s emergency management officials said the storm cut power to more than 6.5 million account holders across the state as of Monday afternoon.

Eric Silagy, the CEO of Florida Power & Light, said Irma caused the most widespread damage in the company’s history. It affected all 35 counties in the utility’s territory which is most of the state’s Atlantic coast and the Gulf coast south of Tampa. The most extensive damage was likely in the Naples area, but a full assessment was ongoing. He said 19,500 electric workers have been deployed in the restoration effort.

Still, he said, it will take days for many people to be restored and, in some cases where the damage was extensive, weeks.

Meanwhile, Duke Energy reported Monday morning that more than 860,000 of the homes and businesses it serves in Florida were without power.

Georgia reported more than 570,000 homes and businesses without electricity, and there were 80,000 in South Carolina.

12:00 p.m.

Jacksonville, Florida, authorities are telling residents near the St. Johns River to leave quickly as floodwaters rise.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office warned people in evacuation zones A and B along the St. Johns River to “Get out NOW.”

They say river is at historic flood levels and likely to get worse at high tide around 2 p.m.

On its Facebook page, the sheriff’s office told those who need help evacuating to “put a white flag in front of your house. A t-shirt, anything white.”

Rescue teams were ready to deploy.

11:30 a.m.

A longtime resident of Florida’s Marco Island said Hurricane Irma was the strongest storm he’s seen in three decades of living there.

Rick Freedman and his wife rode the storm out the island where Hurricane Irma made its second landfall Sunday afternoon as a Category 3 storm. They were uninjured, but he said the damage around them was striking.

A couple doors down from his house, much of a neighbor’s roof blew off. He said the island was covered with debris Monday morning.

He and his wife spent Sunday in a neighbor’s house with sturdy concrete block construction, and that house suffered little damage. He said his own wood-frame house on stilts appears to have little if any interior damage, but the storm ripped off an exterior stairway to the front door and blew off some roof shingles.

At the storm’s height he described “tremendously, tremendously powerful winds.”

11:00 a.m.

Irma continues to weaken as it moves over Florida and into Georgia. Winds are now being recorded at 65 miles per hour with the storm now 70 miles east of Tallahassee, Florida.

The National Weather Service said the threat of storm surge had decreased Monday along Georgia’s 100 miles of coast, but flooding rains could still cause swollen rivers, streams and creeks to overflow.

10:30 a.m.

Tropical storm Irma is drenching the Georgia coast, and forecasters say flooding is a serious threat.

Downtown Savannah was getting soaked Monday morning, with winds just strong enough to rustle treetops and shake small branches onto the roads. Impacts from the storm were expected throughout the day.

Irma was forecast to cross the Georgia-Florida line Monday afternoon. Though downgraded to a tropical storm, its winds reached up to 415 miles from the center.

Georgia Power said more than 125,000 customers were without powers across Georgia’s six coastal counties.

10:05 a.m.

Speaking at the Pentagon , President Donald Trump said he is sending the “nation’s prayers” to everyone affected by Hurricanes Irma and Harvey.

The president made the remarks before speaking on the 16th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks.

10:00 a.m.

Firefighters on one of South Carolina’s largest barrier islands are now staying inside until the worst weather from Tropical Storm Irma passes.

Hilton Head Island said on Twitter that it suspended emergency operations at 9 a.m. Monday until the winds and storm surge subside. They say they will only go on calls if a supervisor allows them because conditions are too dangerous.

The island of 42,000 people is under an evacuation order. Forecasters warn wind gusts around 60 mph and storm surge of up to 6 feet are possible later Monday.

Similar storm surge and winds gusts are possible up to coast to Charleston too.

9:30 a.m.

People are being rescued from flooded homes Monday morning south of Jacksonville, Florida, as Tropical Storm Irma pounds the state with rain and wind.

John Ward, the emergency operations manager of Clay County, says crews have pulled 46 people from flooded homes by early Monday and an undetermined number are still stranded as the area’s creeks and ponds are getting record flooding.

Ward says between 400 and 500 homes received severe flood damage but there have been no serious injuries or deaths.

Irma weakened to a tropical storm Monday morning, a day after hitting the state as a powerful Category 4 hurricane.

9:00 a.m.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott says there’s damage across the state caused by Hurricane Irma and it’s still too dangerous for residents to go outside or return from evacuation.

Scott said Monday on Fox News that he’s concerned about flooding now unfolding in Jacksonville and the amount of damage in the Florida Keys. The governor will be flying out of Mobile, Alabama, on a U.S. Coast Guard plane down to the Keys where he plans to inspect the extent of the damage there.

Local officials in the Keys on Sunday warned of a humanitarian crisis due to Irma’s winds and storm surge.

Scott asked Floridians to be patient and warned that roads are impassable and that there are downed power lines.

8:30 a.m.

Two children evacuated from Florida as Hurricane Irma approached have been killed in separate car crashes in Georgia.

News outlets report Woodstock police say 3-month-old Riley Hunt of Port St. Lucie, Florida, was struck by an SUV driven by a 17-year-old girl Saturday night and was later pronounced dead. DeKalb County police say an 11-year-old boy who was also traveling from Florida to Georgia was hit and killed by a car early Monday in Stone Mountain.

The identity of the boy hasn’t been released, and the cause of the crash is currently unknown.

The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office says Hunt’s mother, 28-year-old Kaitlyn Hunt, and 61-year-old Kathy Deming were also hit and are listed in critical condition. The incident remains under investigation. No charges had been filed.

8 a.m.

Hurricane Irma has now been downgraded to a tropical storm as it makes its way out of Florida Monday morning. Irma now has sustained winds of 70 mph, but a risk of near hurricane force wind gusts remains.

The focus now shifts to Jacksonville, where flooding has already started on some the city's streets.

The National Weather Service in Jacksonville says storm surge flooding exceeds the record set in 1965 during Hurricane Dora.

The city on Florida’s northeastern Atlantic coast remains under a flash flood warning until 12:45 p.m. Monday.

Jacksonville Sheriff’s officials warned residents not to drive through standing water, adding that in addition to flooding, there are trees and power lines down across the area.

5 a.m.

Hurricane Irma is getting weaker as it moves over the western Florida peninsula early Monday.

Irma hit Florida on Sunday as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, hammering much of the state with roof-ripping winds, gushing floodwaters and widespread power outages.

By Monday morning, Irma had weakened to a Category 1 hurricane with winds near 85 mph. Additional weakening is forecast and Irma is expected to become a tropical storm over northern Florida or southern Georgia later in the day.

2 a.m.

Irma weakened to a Category 1 storm as the massive hurricane zeroed in on the Tampa Bay region early Monday after hammering much of Florida with roof-ripping winds, gushing floodwaters and widespread power outages.

As of 2 a.m. EDT, the storm was centered about 25 miles northeast of Tampa and moving north-northwest near 15 mph.

Irma continues its slog north along Florida’s western coast having blazed a path of unknown destruction. With communication cut to some of the Florida Keys, where Irma made landfall Sunday, and rough conditions persisting across the peninsula, many are holding their breath for what daylight might reveal.

1 a.m.

A private observer in Clearwater Beach measured a wind gust on 96 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

A private weather station in Egmont Channel reported sustained winds of 72 mph with a gust of 91 mph.

12:15 a.m.

The National Hurricane Center says the core of Irma is now nearing Tampa in an area south of Lakeland — a community inland and to the east of the heavily populated Tampa Bay region.

11 p.m.

The eye of Hurricane Irma continues to drift farther inland over Florida on a track that brings the storm toward Orlando and Central Florida.

Hurricane Irma remains a dangerous Category 2 hurricane despite weakening a bit more to 100 mph. It’s now bearing down on the Tampa-St. Petersburg region.

The National Hurricane Center says Irma’s eye is about 50 miles southeast of Tampa and moving at a fast clip of 14 mph. Still a large hurricane, its tropical storm force winds extend out 415 miles.

Forecasters say they expert Irma’s center to stay inland over Florida and then move into Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee.

They also expect Irma to weaken further into a tropical storm over far northern Florida or southern Georgia on Monday as it speeds up its forward motion. The hurricane center says the storm is still life-threatening with dangerous storm surge, wind and heavy rains.

The hurricane warning has been changed to a tropical storm warning from Jupiter Inlet southward around the Florida peninsula to Bonita Beach, as well as for the Florida Keys and Florida Bay.

10:00 p.m.

A third construction crane has toppled in Florida in the powerful winds of Hurricane Irma. Officials say it happened at a project on Fort Lauderdale beach during the storm Sunday.

The storm continued to produce damaging winds across most of the state. It's moving north at 14 mph with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph

9:25 p.m.

Miami International Airport has announced it will be closed Monday and begin only limited flights on Tuesday.

Orlando International Airport closed Saturday and won’t reopen to passenger traffic until after Hurricane Irma has passed, a damage assessment has been completed, necessary recovery efforts made and the airlines are consulted to determine when best to resume operations.

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport says on its website it has no timetable yet to reopen. Its last flights were Friday.

Tampa International Airport also is closed as Hurricane Irma moves up the Florida peninsula.

Airlines are preparing their recovery schedules, which may take several days to execute.

More than 3.3 million homes and businesses - and counting - have lost power in Florida as Hurricane Irma moves up the peninsula.

The widespread outages stretch from the Florida Keys all the way into central Florida.Florida Power & Light, the state's largest electric utility, said there were nearly 1 million customers without power in Miami-Dade County alone.

The power outages are expected to increase as the storm edges further north.There are roughly 7 million residential customers in the state.

8 p.m.

Irma is located north of Naples, and dangerous storm surges are expected immediately after the eye passes along the west Florida coast.

Significant flooding is likely over the next five days in the Florida peninsula and southeast Georgia, a hurricane center forecaster said.

Flooding is also possible beginning Monday and Tuesday in much of eastern and central Georgia, western South Carolina, and western North Carolina, where average rainfall of 3 to 8 inches and isolated 12 inch amounts are expected, the hurricane center says.

Irma is expected to produce average amounts of 2 to 5 inches in parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee, where isolated higher amounts and local flooding may occur, according to the center.

Maximum sustained winds are near 110 mph with higher gusts. Although weakening is expected, Irma will likely remain a hurricane at least through Monday morning.